Aphrodite
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite (Greek: Αφροδιτη, "she who shines from the foam") is the Olympian goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, sexuality, desire, and procreation. Her sacred attributes include a dove, an apple, a scallop shell, sparrows, a swan, a girdle, a goose, myrtle, a hare, and a mirror. She is a beautiful goddess and is often accompanied by Eros, the Charites, and Peitho. Aphrodite is a vain goddess who is ill-tempered and easily-offended, often punishing those who scorn her worship or insult her. Aphrodite is equated with Venus in Roman mythology, Hathor in Egyptian mythology, and Turan in Etruscan mythology. Mythology Trojan War All of the gods were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, except for Eris due to her disagreeable nature. In revenge, Eris threw a golden apple marked "to the fairest" among a group of goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed that the apple was for them. Unable to solve the issue amongst themselves, the three goddesses went to Zeus who turned to Paris for him to choose which goddess was the fairest. Each goddess tried to bribe Paris, but he eventually chooses Aphrodite as she promised him the love of Helen of Troy. As the goddess of desire, Aphrodite caused Paris to become inflamed with desire for Helen at first sight and he awarded the golden apple to her. Helen, however, was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris and Helen's elopement and Menelaus' attempts to retrieve her is what started the Trojan War. Ares The sun god Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying each other secretly in the hall of Hephaestus, her husband. He reported the incident to Hephaestus. Contriving to catch the couple in the act, Hephaestus fashioned a finely-knit and nearly-invisible net with which to snare them. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung and trapped Ares and Aphrodite locked in a very private embrace. However, Hephaestus was not satisfied with this revenge so he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the goddesses demured but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some commented on the beauty of Aphrodite while others remarked that they would eagerly trade places with Ares, but all who were present mocked the two. Once released, Ares returned to his homeland, Thrace, and Aphrodite left to Paphos. In a later affair, Ares set the youth Alectryon by his door to warn them of Helios' arrival, as Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep. Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. Furious, Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster, which now always announces the arrival of the sun in the morning. Hippomenes and Atalanta Hippomenes was a mortal man who fell in love with Atalanta, a huntress who wished to remain a virgin. However, she declared that any man who could beat her in a footrace could marry her. Those who lost would be put to death. Knowing that he could not beat her, Hippomenes prayed to Aphrodite for help and she gave him three golden apples with which to distract and slow down Atalanta during the race. With his tricks, Hippomenes beat Atalanta and the two were married. After falling in love, Hippomenes neglected a proper tribute to Aphrodite for her help so she drove them mad with lust while they were staying in a temple of Cybele. After having sex, Cybele transformed them into lions since the Ancient Greeks believed that lions could not mate with other lions. Hippolytus After scorning the worship of Aphrodite, she caused the step-mother of Hippolytus, Phaedra, to fall in love with him. Phaedra tried to seduce Hippolytus but he spurned her advances. As revenge, Phaedra told Hippolytus' father, Theseus, that he had raped her. Theseus used one of his wishes given to him by Poseidon to curse Hippolytus. Poseidon sent a sea monster to scare the horses of Hippolytus and drag him to his death. Phaedra then killed herself out of guilt for the death of Hippolytus. Glaucus After angering Aphrodite, she caused the horses of Glaucus to be driven mad and tear him apart during the funeral games of King Pelias. Polyphonte Polyphonte was a mortal woman who desired to live a virginal life as a follower of Artemis. Angered by her refusal to accept love in her life, Aphrodite cursed Polyphonte with an insatiable lust for a bear. Polyphonte gave birth to twins, Agrius and Oreius, half-man and half-bear creatures. Eventually, they were all turned into birds. Adonis The most prominent lover of Aphrodite is Adonis. He is the child of Myrrha, cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus, after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. Driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha was transformed into a myrrh tree but still gave birth to Adonis. Aphrodite found the baby and took him to the Underworld to be fostered by Persephone. Aphrodite returned to him when he was fully-grown and strikingly handsome, but Persephone wanted to keep him with her. Zeus declared that Adonis would spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third with Persephone, and a third with whichever goddess he wished to. Adonis always chose Aphrodite so they were together the most. Adonis was fond of hunting and, while hunting, was wounded by Ares in the guise of a wild boar and bled to death. Aphrodite arrived to his body too late and caused anemones to grow wherever his blood had fell. After Adonis' spirit went to the Underworld, Aphrodite went to Persephone to ask her to bring him back to life. After consulting Zeus again, he decided that Adonis would spend half the year with Persephone and half with Aphrodite. Anchises Due to her often causing other gods and goddesses to fall in love with mortals, Zeus causes Aphrodite to fall in love with the mortal Anchises. She disguised herself as a mortal woman and went to him and told him that she was a Phrygian princess. After having sex, Aphrodite reveals her true self, which causes Anchises to beg for death, since he says that no good comes from an immortal having children with a mortal. Aphrodite calms him down by telling him that she will bear him a son named Aeneas and reminds him that Eos and Tithonus, as well as Zeus and Ganymede were two relationships between immortals and mortals that went well. Aphrodite warned him not to boast of their affair, or Zeus would smite him with a thunderbolt. Despite the warning, Anchises boasted of the affair and was struck with a thunderbolt. However, the thunderbolt only deformed his foot and he was lame for the rest of his life. Family After Uranus was castrated and his genitals were thrown into the sea, the sea foam was created from his genitals and Aphrodite rose from the sea foam as a full-formed goddess and floating on a scallop shell. She was born near the island of Cyprus. After her birth and ascension to Olympus, Zeus knew that she would cause conflict between the male gods due to her beauty. In order to prevent this, Zeus quickly married her to Hephaestus. Despite being married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had many affairs and many children with other deities, including: Poetic titles and epithets *''Aphrodite Ourania'' (Greek: Αφροδιτη Οὐρανία, "heavenly Aphrodite") *''Aphrodite Pandemos'' (Greek: Αφροδιτη Πάνδημος, "Aphrodite common to all the people") *''Cypris'' ("Lady of Cyprus") *''Cytherea'' ("Lady of Cythera") Category:Greek mythology Category:Greek deities Category:Greek gods